


Ember

by Lia (Liafic)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-25
Updated: 2011-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-26 12:46:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/283296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liafic/pseuds/Lia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Classes will end soon for the break, and they will both be gone, leaving the empty halls of the school behind for a few short weeks of peace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ember

The days pass in the slow rhythm of school life, filled with silent moments and hushed conversations at the back of classrooms. She and Ron are no longer speaking, the space between them fraught with a desperate and resentful tension that drains her patience, and Harry has meanwhile been seized by an insatiable curiosity for that time-worn book. She knows that things are changing slowly, that everything is getting more difficult for him and that the looming threat of war on the horizon is making him irritable and quick to snap at even the slightest of perceived insults. Hermione tries to understand, tries to be there for her best friend even though she cannot imagine the challenges he will have to face. Her worries in life are so much more fragile in their simplicity, conquered with quiet smiles and dedication.

She knows that Harry has been keeping a close eye on Malfoy, even though he tries to play it off as just being cautious. The whole thing has almost become a joke between the two of them, but she knows that his obsession with Malfoy is a silent and all-consuming inferno, something that he is careful not to let on to any of them but that is obvious to her nonetheless. She has always been an observationalist. Her own thoughts are slow burning, hotter and darker and infinitely more complex, born of fractured and sleep-warm dreams of white blond like sun through frosted glass. She never told Harry, but she met Malfoy once in the slow-moving first weeks of winter, when the castle was shrouded in permanent dusk and the smell of lit candles and pine made every day feel like Christmas Eve. 

The isolated corners of the library were still dim and quiet then, filled with whirls of captured smoke. She was reaching for a book when she felt someone brush past her: a movement in the air and the smell of hot cocoa. 

“Sorry,” he said absentmindedly as he continued down the aisle, and she was still standing in a dull sort of surprise when he turned back to face her in a flickering silhouette of distant firelight. For the briefest of moments she was sure that he would somehow retract his apology now that he realised who she was. But he just gave her a tired and unreadable look before turning away and disappearing into the stacks. 

It was all so mundane. So human. 

She never mentioned it to anyone. She barely even remembers it anymore, and he never looks over at her across the crowded hall, never makes eye contact. This leads her to believe that it meant nothing. _Of course_ it meant nothing, but still she never told Harry. Never told him that it was in that moment, in the silence of the library, that she realised they were no longer children, that their problems could no longer be solved by stubborn confrontation. That she has a persistent and horrible feeling that things are about to spiral inevitably out of control. 

She just never said anything, and these secrets hide unspoken in the hollow of her chest. Classes will end soon for the break, and they will both be gone, leaving the empty halls of the school behind for a few short weeks of peace. Hermione tells herself now that she will not have time to think of him anymore, that she will be caught up with visits and traditions and all the familiar feelings of home. She tells herself this, and she knows deep inside her heart that after everything changes, after their lives shatter and she is torn from these warm places, she will never let herself think of him again.


End file.
